PANJIM: Stating it has no faith in the BJP-led State government, the Congress on Tuesday petitioned Goa Governor Bhagat Singh Koshari seeking his intervention to ensure that the government does not move or pass bill to legalise cannabis cultivation in the State.
In a joint representation submitted the Goa Pradesh Youth Congress (GPYC) President Varad Mardolkar said that party has no faith in the government since it has changed its decision a number of times in the past and as such there is possibility that the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant may revert his decision thereby pushing to bring in a bill to legalise cannabis cultivation.
Following uproar, the Chief Minister had announced that the government is not going ahead with the proposal of cannabis cultivation in the State, even as the proposal had received green signal from the Law Department.
“Therefore, the Youth Congress requests the Governor to deter the State government from taking such a wrong decision and in the eventuality that the government may succeed in bringing & passing such a bill in the Assembly, the Youth Congress appeals to you as a guardian of the Constitution not to sign the Bill to convert it into a law,” Mardolkar said.
The Youth leader said that the local police are taking tireless efforts to curb drug trafficking in the State but still drug trade is mushrooming due to heavy demand.
“In such a scenario legalisation of cannabis cultivation will allow drug trade to flourish and create more and more law-and-order problems in the State,” he said.
The GPYC claimed that the police have seized narcotics drugs worth Rs 6.7 crore in total for the year 2020 as compared to last year when the total seizure amounted to Rs 5.5 crore.
